Child Psychology Chapter 4: Infancy

What is Sensation?

When information interacts with sensory recepters

What is Perception?

The interpretation of sensory information

What are reflexes? What’s important about them?

Involuntary, automatic response to stimuli ; reflexes have a survival value

Reflexes appearing and disappearing in a timely manner indicate normal nervous system development

What are rooting reflexes?

Infants turn their head when cheek is stroked to find something to suck

What are newborn states?

Levels of Arousel

• Newborns spend most of their time sleeping (16-18 hours/day)

• Other states include crying (unlearned behavior → parents CANNOT spoil a newborn)

What is SIDS?

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - when a healthy infant stops breathing and dies in their sleep. 5000-6000 infants in the U.S. die of this every year

What are risk factors for SIDS? What has decreased SIDS cases?

Maternal smoking, low APGAR score at birth, sleeping on their stomach, too many clothes/blankets

The “Back-To-Sleep” campaign has decreased the SIDS rates dramatically

What are research methods for infants’ sensations/perceptions?

1. Visual Preference

2. Habituation

3. High Amplitude Sucking Method

What is the visual preference research method?

Infants look at different things for different lengths of time ; they look longer at the things they prefer

What is the Habituation research method?

Decrease in responding to a stimulus that has become familiar ; simple form of learning

What is the High Amplitude Sucking research method?

Based on the learning principle of operant conditioning ; baby is in control and learns that sucking an object causes music/story to play → sucks to hear more of something it likes ; stops sucking to hear less of it

What is important about newborns and their sense of hearing?

They recognize the sound of their own name by age 4 and a half months ; prefer moms voice

What is important about newborns and their senses of taste and smell?

They prefer sweet taste ; 1-2 weeks old they can distinguish their mother’s breastmilk by smell

What is important about a newborns sense of touch?

Physical touch/affection lowers their stress levels

What is important about a baby’s sense of vision?

Least developed sense at birth. Vision is estimated to be 20/600 at birth

Visual Perception in Infancy:

Fantz (1961) research to show infants’ various faces and concluded that babies prefer to look at what they see well and at moderately complex targets

What are Perceptual Constanties?

Size Constancy - recognizing an object remains the same size when even perception changes

What is Depth Perception through the Visual Cliff Experiment?

Asked the question “how early do babies perceive depth?”

Answer: By 6 months

What is Intermodal Perception?

The ability to recognize one by sense info that is usually familiar through another